A Bartlett family said they woke up last week to find a bear in their kitchen.

Wildlife officials said the warm spring sent bears out looking for food a little earlier than usual. John Belanger said his wife went downstairs in their Glen Ledge Road home late one night last week to find a black bear.

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"It was over 400 pounds, a big male," Belanger said.

The bear was digging through the couple's trash can. Belanger said his wife ran back into their room, and he locked the door and called police.

"It was quite the night," he said. "It was very frightening."

Bear sightings are nothing new in the area.

"They're quite common," said Belanger's neighbor, Anne Chase. "We have a pond down the hill, and they tend to come down and they use that as a staging area to come out and check our compost."

Resident Doris Kirk said her trash was also picked through last week.

"The bear was obviously pretty hungry but didn't find a thing," she said.

The Belangers said the bear hasn't shown up again, and they believe it might have been captured and moved out of the area.